Obeying an Appeal of Love
Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus— I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.
Philemon 1:8–12 ESV Read More
Did you catch that opening line? Even though I’m bold enough to command you, I prefer to appeal to you. Paul is bringing it on heavy here. He has the authority to give Philemon a command, but he doesn’t want it to be a command. At the same time, he needs to be explicit about what he wants Philemon to do in case Philemon doesn’t naturally know to do it.
This is very similar to the freedom that God gives us. Even with Moses in the Ten Commandments, the people had a choice and God gave them options. Now with life in the spirit, there are definite things that are part of God’s will like purity in marriage, a mission to all nations, value and dignity of life, among other things. But instead of explicitly giving us a list of do’s and don’ts, God gives us life in His Son.
Life in the Son and recognizing the Son’s life in us takes us out of the immature questions like “Is it ok for Christians to ____” and into the mature questions like “What is God doing in this situation? What does Jesus want to accomplish in me right here and right now?”
Christ appeals to us to live for His will and to deny our own. When we think of this selfishly, it sounds awful. Look at Philemon: if he thinks of himself and his own gain from Onesimus, whatever Paul is about to ask will be bad for Philemon’s selfish will. If Philemon is concerned about the Lord, however, he’ll be seeking what is best for Onesimus and the best for Paul before himself. Before Paul even asks any favor of Philemon, he re-introduces Onesimus to Philemon as someone that is useful to them both for the sake of the Gospel.
It’s obvious to look at this situation and see that Philemon should do what is right for Onesimus and Paul, and not serve his own needs. As always, when something looks obvious in the scriptures, look for something NOT obvious in yourself. Just as it’s clear that Philemon should let Onesimus be free at the expense and grace of Philemon, there is something I should do at the expense of my own wishes.
Christ doesn’t command, but He appeals, and when we answer, it’s life for everyone involved.
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